


Five Times Bucky Unnecessarily Protects the Avengers

by Starbucks_ed (Thorki_ed)



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Best Friends, Crack, M/M, Swearing, avenger!bucky, slight homophobia, so much swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 06:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9480122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorki_ed/pseuds/Starbucks_ed
Summary: Five times Bucky unnecessarily protects his new friends, and the one time they stood up for him.0% a serious fic.





	

\--- ONE --- 

The first time it happens, it takes them all (minus Steve) by surprise. Pepper Potts is standing in front of a large crowd, the podium in front of her just being a glass slate held on a tripod. The chaotic frenzy in front of her is nothing new as she answers the barrage of questions regarding the new terms of the Avengers. 

“What about the Accords?!”

“We are still open to hearing amendments of the Sokovia Accords, as we have submitted our own recommendations. For the time being, we await a response and until then, the Avengers will continue with local incidences, in collaboration with local authorities, funded by Stark Industries, or in regions when invited by local authorities if deemed necessary.”

The crowd of news reporters is restless, the New York paparazzi famous for their ruthlessness. Some of the Avengers are with her, in case it goes sideways: Tony standing proudly on stage with her, Steve to the other side behind Pepper, and Bucky opted to stand at the bottom of the stairs, more hidden from the spotlight. Steve could tell Bucky was tense, listening to the reporters shouting over each other to get Pepper’s attention, the flash of the bulbs off the cameras. 

Unexpectedly, a large gust of wind blew by, causing Pepper’s billowy summer dress to fly upward. In a matter of seconds a few things happened.

1) a guy in a baseball cap right in front of the podium snapped several picture in a row of the incident  
2) Bucky was suddenly on stage, gathering Pepper’s dress and holding the loose fabric with his flesh hand  
3) Bucky, eyes unblinking, grabs Baseball Cap’s phone with his metal hand and squeezes the life of it, metal crunching and pieces scattering over the floor  
4) Pepper recovers from the shock of what has happened, and awkwardly takes her dress in her hands, murmuring a thanks to Bucky with rosy cheeks  
5) Bucky bends his head to the microphone, and Steve braces himself for the worst

“If anyone else has indecent pictures of this fine lady on their phone, I will find you, and it won't be just your phone that I crush.”

Steve only sees Bucky's back, but he can tell that Bucky's swept the whole crowd with hard blue eyes, and he notices a few people cough, fidget, and tap a few buttons on their phones and Steve's pretty sure Bucky was effective in his message. Tony cannot, for the life of him, keep the smirk off his face. 

“Now you be on your best behaviours,” Bucky says with a nod before stepping away, gesturing with his arm for Pepper to take over again. It would almost be hilarious, the way Bucky's tone sounds like a teacher scolding children, if it wasn't so fucking terrifying to the crowd. 

Pepper, to her credit, clears her throat once before resuming in a calm tone about the further plans for Stark Industries and what that could mean for the future of the Avengers. Bucky stands just behind her left shoulder, metal arm gleaming dangerously in the sun as a reminder. The crowd is so well-behaved, you'd have never thought they were New York paparazzi. 

“Your boy’s pretty awesome,” Tony whispers. 

“He's not mine. Or a boy. He's not my boy,” Steve hisses back. 

_Your boy’s a natural - Clint_

Steve doesn't bother texting Clint back. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\--- TWO --- 

The second time it happens, it shocks everyone (even Steve). There's a particularly nasty fight, enough that the NYPD call them in immediately. Thor is in Asgard, so they need the Hulk for heavy hitting. The problem is, the robots seem to be going for certain heat signatures. They ignore the city structures, for the most part, but will trash a hot dog cart grill or civilians. Unfortunately, the Hulk seems to give off a particularly delicious scent of gamma radiation and body heat, considering his size, and the robots are swarming him. It's a good thing for the cops and pedestrians, so they can get cleared out, but the Hulk is getting angrier by the minute. And of course, the angrier he got, the warmer he got, and the more these bugs were attracted to him. They tried to help, picking them off where they could, Hawkeye shooting them with delicate precision around the Hulk’s head. Steve was throwing them off the Hulk’s legs and dismembering them, while trying not to get stomped on. Bucky and Natasha firing at rapid speed, watching them drop. Tony was handling the ones that hadn't quite reached the Hulk yet, beams blowing up several at a time. 

They weren't particularly challenging or dangerous, just plentiful. It was goddamn time-consuming. They were all covered in nicks and scratches from the sharp metal but no serious wounds. The Hulk, however, had little pricks everywhere on him, from where the fuckers had dug their metal claws in to climb up. He was pissed. 

After the battle was theirs, and metal littered the streets, the Hulk refused to calm down, refused to let Bruce come back, and refused to take orders. He stomped, making a massive crater and Steve winced knowing that this was going to be used against them.

“HEY!” 

Steve's blood ran cold. Bucky, no…

“Talkin’ to ya, fella!” 

The Hulk bent down and roared in Bucky’s face, loud enough that strands of hair came loose from the bun he was sporting. 

“Good lord, you need a mint,” Bucky joked, one hand on the Hulk’s massive arm. “Don't hurt me. I was trying to help, remember?” He waved his gun around in the other hand.

The Avengers were deadly still. The Hulk would crush Bucky into the ground any moment now. 

“C’mere,” Bucky said easily with an award-winning smile that he used to charm the panties off women. He walked to the Hulk and hugged him. 

Hugging the Hulk. 

“What. Is happening. Here.” Tony says after five seconds. 

For the most part, it's entertaining at least, Bucky looking child-sized compared to the Hulk, content look on his face, eyes closed like nothing mattered. The Hulk, blinking down at the small man, undoubtedly wondering why his personal space was being violated. 

But then, the Hulk raised an arm and awkwardly laid it on top of Bucky’s back (which covered most of his body, actually). 

“Wow.” (Tony)

“Yeah.” (Clint)

“Wow.” (Tony again)

*intense staring* (Natasha) 

“Well, I'll be damned.” (Steve)

It only took a minute, where Bucky mumbled something into the Big Guy’s torso and the Hulk grunted. Another thirty seconds later, Bruce was back, leaning heavily on Bucky for support. 

“Wow.” (Tony) 

“He just needed the right words, wouldn't ya say?” Bucky said. Bruce nodded, then jumped at the sight of a stray robot headed his way. It was smoked in the centre of its tiny body before it even made it close to them. 

“So as I was sayin’,” Bucky continued, holstering his still-warm gun again as if he hadn't been interrupted. 

“Wow.” (Tony)

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\--- THREE ---

The third time was almost comical. This time, they were being called to Latveria, where Doom  
was undoubtedly up to no good. The Fantastic Four had needed back-up, saying Johnny and Ben had been captured. Even though they weren't technically supposed to be in Latveria, Steve was good friends with Johnny and couldn't let that slip. Thor was back from Asgard, so they left Bruce with JARVIS to run point. 

It was a hell of a time. Bucky and Clint held the high ground, which meant Tony (and Sam, who had nothing better to do) took the air, and Thor was with Steve and Natasha on the ground. 

“I found him!” Sue announced into their communications link, after a few minutes of scouring the castle 

“I'm going in!” Steve announced, which put the extraction plan into motion. “What's your location?” 

Sam would then cover whatever exit was closest to them, and continue covering them until they could get to to jet, where Richard was waiting for them. 

It was going pretty well until Doom came out to play. Having lost Steve, Sue Richard and Sam to the extraction team, Thor and Natasha were getting a little more pressure. Bucky winces when he sees Natasha favour her left leg, and through the scope, it's a little hard to tell, but he's certain there's blood. 

“You got this?” Bucky asks, looking at Clint who’s just the next cliff top away. 

Clint makes the OK sign at him, so Bucky leaves his spot, knowing Clint will come for his gun. He takes the shortest way down, which is grappling the rocky, angled slope and it only takes him a few minutes to press back to back with Natasha, falling back into their old patterns. 

“I was doing fine,” she scowls. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he teases. “But I was gettin’ bored and you looked like you were havin’ a blast.” 

They know it's a cover, but it's okay. He feels her lean into him and together, they're a spinning wheel of death. They kick and punch, throw daggers and shoot, they do it in perfect harmony, never getting in each other's way but always having each other's backs. They've taken care of all the minions, just to see Thor take a hit from Doom, sending the god flying backward into the dirt. Thor, albeit pretty indestructible, is not untouchable. 

Bucky wants to make a move, but he can't risk Natasha getting thrown when she's got a bad leg. Still, he knows that if Clint sees the coast is clear, he'll come for Natasha. 

“I'm going,” he says abruptly. He trusts Natasha will know what he means. He doesn't say “stay here” or “get behind me” because broken leg or not, Natasha can take care of herself and will remind you at every turn. 

Thor’s gotten up and hit Doom, but Doom’s devices are new and unique, and they catch Thor off guard. One gadget he throws looks like it misses, but turns sharply and embeds itself into Thor’s shoulder. The thunderer cries out but flings Mjolnir, which Doom manages to dodge twice. 

“What's the mask for? Got a mug so ugly you can't leave home without it?” Bucky taunts. He can hear Natasha’s groan distinctly in the distance. Even Tony suggests that might not be a great idea, still engaging with the aerial defence.

He closes the distance between them, and in the eyeholes of the mask, Bucky can see Doom inspecting his metal arm. It's a lucky thing, because Doom comes straight for him and plants a small device on said metal arm, and then they grapple. Bucky keeps a hold on Doom because if the device is a bomb, Doom wouldn't detonate it so close to himself. However, it turns out to be an electric charge, probably meant to send the arm into failure but what Doom didn't know was that said metal arm came equipped with an EMP. Bucky activates it at the same time Doom activates his device to go off and it's an electric showdown. Bucky winces because while he can't feel it in his arm, he can feel the jolt in his shoulder. Doom, however is subject to the full blast with Bucky holding him so close. There's a smell of burnt flesh in the air, and it makes Bucky gag. He throws Doom to the ground, smoke from the electric burnout rising around them. 

“And don't you ever mess with my buddy Thor again,” he says with a scowl. 

“Your boy is really somethin’ else,” Sam mutters to Steve, just as they'd arrive to see the last five minutes of the showdown. Steve just throws his hands in the air. “He ain't a boy!” He huffs. At Sam’s accusing eyebrow lift, he also adds, “and he ain't mine!”

“Yet,” Johnny adds, because he's a prick. He high fives Sam. Steve shakes his head. He rescues the son of a bitch and he's already cozying up to the side of his enemies. 

“I hate the both of you,” he says, marching toward the rest of his team. 

Thor is beaming proudly when they arrive. “Ah, Captain! You have missed the incredible feat your brother in arms has accomplished! It was a spectacular victory!”

Bucky is uncomfortable squished into Thor’s side, but just grimace-smiles. “Anything for you, pal.”

“Yes, and for you I would conquer anything as well!” Thor exclaims, eyes shining bright. “Let us feast!” He turns, Bucky still under his arm, and leads them to the jet. 

Steve just follows, aware of the smiles and laughs from his teammates, including Bucky. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\---FOUR ---

There's not even a real reason this one happens. Natasha’s doing just fine on her own. Clint was airlifted by Thor after an explosive caught him in the side, and the rest are left to deal with these miniature bombs. On legs. 

It was a fucking weird day. 

Bucky's approach was to throw them at Tony, letting Tony detonate them in the air where they didn't do any damage (though it did rain bomb parts and Bucky's hair was protesting that bit). Natasha and Steve quickly caught on and Natasha began launching them before either Steve's shield caught them or her own widow bites. 

Then, the mother bomb. The Mother of All Bombs. It was huge, approximately the side of the Hulk, and strutted down the streets of New York like it owned the place. 

“What the fuck,” Tony spoke for all of them. 

“Yeah, not even the metal arm’s gonna be able to throw that one.”

“We lure it to the water,” Steve suggested. For lack of a better plan, and concern for all the civilians within a 25 block radius, they agree to it. 

“Oh,” Tony suddenly says as the bomb slowly steps toward them in an open park. 

“Oh what?” Natasha says sharply. 

“It doesn't have an explosive charge, I triple checked the scans. If I detonate it remotely, which I'm pretty sure I can, it would just kind of… Self destruct. No harm or anything.”

“What the fuck, then do it already,” Bucky grumbled. 

“Keep your panties on,” Tony muttered, but ordered JARVIS to go ahead. 

There was a loud explosion, followed by the screams of nearby bystanders. But, Tony had told the truth. There wasn't any sort of impact, just as though the bomb had been filled with air like a giant balloon. Still, Steve found himself being shoved to the side, by Bucky of all friggin people, his shield being torn from his hands. 

“Bucky what the -”

“Natasha!” Bucky called out, reaching her in a few strides. He pulled her close and tucked them underneath Steve's shield. As the metal scraps came raining down from the sky, Steve frowned as he felt several pieces catching his skin and undoubtedly getting caught in his hair. After the twenty second metal-rainstorm, Bucky handed the shield back to a very unamused Steve. 

“Really, Buck?” He hissed. 

Bucky shrugged. “Think about how badly they would have tangled in her hair,” he said innocently. Natasha, on cue, shook her long, curly locks out, free from debris. 

Steve rolled his eyes for an eternity. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\---FIVE---

Steve can't keep up with anything happening in front of him. They're being infiltrated by a new HYDRA, reformed to be nastier than ever. It gnaws at Steve’s insides, because it feels like he hasn't done right by Bucky. 

Bucky. 

Steve lets his shield fly, it hits the wall at the perfect angle to take out the masked agent from behind. He tries to focus on the task at hand - clear the control room. There's a ton of them, pouring in from both entrances. He really wishes Natasha were here but she's probably halfway around the world. Hawkeye announces his arrival with a perfectly placed arrow in the shoulder of the agent rushing at Steve. Steve takes the one right behind. 

“B wing cleared,” Tony announces. “Moving to A.”

“C wing cleared, moving to D,” Thor copies. 

“Bucky, Hulk, status report?” Steve asks in return.

“No more F,” the Hulk roars, and Steve hears an unpromising crunching noise. 

“Bucky?” 

“I'm sure he's alright, Cap,” he hears Hawkeye say. He looks around for Hawkeye’s perch, but doesn't see the archer. 

He tries to relax but HYDRA and Bucky are unpredictable. He's lost count of how many times HYDRA has come after Bucky. What if they had finally gathered the numbers to take Bucky away from him again? They'd gotten brave enough to attack them on SHIELD territory, surely they were stronger than ever? What if they hadn’t gotten rid of the triggers in Bucky’s mind?

He sighs in relief when he watches two HYDRA agents drop to his left. One has an arrow in his leg, but the other doesn't. 

Bucky. 

“I think your boy’s here,” Hawkeye chuckles. It's all Steve needs to refocus, and the three of them work like a well-oiled machine. Thor and Bruce take care of the remaining wings on the helicarrier and Tony works with Hill and Fury to contain all the downed agents for interrogation and imprisonment. 

“What the fu- SHIT!”

“Hawkeye?!” Steve panics. He scours the rafters above again, and his heart plummets when he sees Hawkeye flip over a railing. The seconds drag by when he realizes he’d never make it in time. 

A shadow steps out from underneath the rafter and Steve can hear the clanging noise from the broken pieces of the railing falling around them. 

“Oof!” 

Steve watches Clint land in the arms of his saviour before taking out the last three HYDRA agents stalking towards them. 

“Uh, you can let me down now?” Clint says gesturing with his free arm. 

Steve steps closer and sees the twinkle in Bucky's eyes as he unceremoniously tosses Clint on his ass. 

“So ungrateful,” he murmurs behind his mask, but claps Clint on the back. 

Clint smiles in return, and gives him a ‘bro hug’ which Steve will take to mean ‘thanks for catching me so I didn't break an arm’. It's kind of beautiful. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

+1

Steve was actually quite touched. They all knew it was only a matter of time before the public found out about the nature of the relationship between Bucky and Steve. As with anything else, people were bound to have an opinion either way, and while there's an overwhelming amount of support for the couple, there's quite a bit of backlash as well. 

“Can't fucking believe it. You'd think the problem woulda been with the fact that you're seeing an assassin. But no. Just that there's something swingin’ between my legs,” Bucky grumbles to Steve, lewdly indicating to his crotch.

Steve pats Bucky's hand. “We've still come a long way,” he points out. It certainly was more free in the year of 2016 than it was back when they'd been teenagers. 

Bucky's look is still sour, so Steve has to work extra hard (not really) to kiss it off his face.

“You've never cared what anyone thought of you, don't start now,” Steve smiles. 

Bucky scoffs. “You lug head, it ain't me that I care they're slamming.” Steve rolls his eyes. 

“I can protect myself.”

Before Bucky can launch into a PowerPoint presentation about how no-you-dumbass-do-you-remember-back-in-the-day-when… They hear roars of voices outside. 

“I thought Tony had Pepper clear out the street,” Steve says, confused. 

Bucky tilts his head to say ‘let's check it out’ and stalks to the window. 

“Is that… Natasha?” 

It looked Natasha’s hair but she was wearing an oversized white T-shirt with something on the front that neither of them could make out. 

“There's Bruce!” Steve points out a figure close by. 

“Thor is there too,” Bucky scans the crowd. “And his… Friends?” He guesses. 

Steve's face is in disbelief as he recognizes Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun. There are a few others dressed in the telltale Asgardian armour but Steve's never met them before. 

“We should get down there.”

Bucky's already halfway to the elevator. 

 

\---

“Guys? Guys what is going on?!” Steve asks in panic as he sees a crowd gather in front of his teammates as well as behind. It looks like a lynching is about to happen. 

“We’re protesting,” Tony smiles so wide it's like Christmas has come early. 

“Protesting?”

“Well some awful human being has decided to start a group dedicated to petitioning for you to step down as Captain America or for us to drop Bucky as an Avenger because of the nature of your relationship and the preposterous idea just won't do,” Pepper rants, red in the face. “So we’re showing that dickhead just what we think about that. Pardon my language.”

Bucky bursts out laughing and embraces Pepper, whose eyes widen in surprise but gleefully hugs back. 

“Should I be worried?” Tony asks, growing at his wife’s prolonged hugging. 

“No, he likes dicks,” Steve says with a straight face and it earns a whooping laughter from Tony. 

“We’re gonna get everyone arrested,” Bucky says fondly as he stares at the Avengers assembled in front. 

They're all wearing white shirts with a picture of Steve and Bucky smiling, arms wrapped around each other. Natasha has hers tied in the back to prevent her from swimming in it and Thor looks ridiculous with the shirt stretched over his normal armour. He’d even brought a small faction of his Asgardian Warriors to don the ridiculous garment. 

They were all eagerly arguing for gay rights. 

Bucky just smiled at Steve. Maybe things would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why, I just really like the Avenger!Bucky thought. My first work in the fandom, but probably not my last. Come visit at [starbucks-smut.tumblr.com](http://starbucks-smut.tumblr.com)!^_^


End file.
